Find a TenderAwardedContract details notice
Published 11 Nov 2025, 15:18 GMT

Official UK procurement notice

Book Parcels and Maths Games for Children in Care

Official notice

Authority: Staffordshire County Council (Local council)

GoodsOpen procedureAbove thresholdSME suitableVCSE suitable
Published estimate£475,000≈ £238k / year · £570,000 inc. VAT
Submissions closed 11 Dec 2025awarded 20 Jan 2026
Awarded to BOOKTRUST
Contract term 2 yrsends 18 Jan 2028 · up to 18 Jan 2032 with extensions · starts 19 Jan 2026

What is being bought

Published requirement description

The Service is to provide as a minimum six (6) parcels. These must be sent calendar monthly to the Virtual Schools nominated address, as identified for each eligible child. High-quality books from a range of genres, maths games and other high-quality materials, that are age appropriate to support our children's learning, which will support narrowing the gap in education achievements for our children. We expect the Provider to demonstrate how and why materials included in a parcel are chosen. The Council support academic five hundred and thirty (530) children per year. The provider will be able to support additional children should the Council need to add new to care children to the Service each month. For those new to care children, we expect them to receive all parcels from the year.

Supply of Materials-

Staffordshire County Council invites Tenders for the provision of a Service to deliver "Educational Books and Maths Games Parcels" to eligible children in care as identified by the Staffordshire virtual school. These parcels must engage the children and young people of in reading and playing educational games through the content they provide. The Provider will supply these children with colourful parcels containing books for them to keep, maths games, stationery and other high-quality materials on a calendar monthly basis, for six (6) agreed months of the year, at an agreed start date per agreed cohort. There will be an additional bonus parcel at Christmas. Suppliers will not be expected to provide the bonus parcel for 2025 but will be expected for the years thereafter. This brings the Total to seven (7) parcels per academic cohort. The provider will need to have available parcels that are split by school year groups:

  • Children aged 4-5 in the Early Years Foundation Stage/Reception
  • Children in Year 1, (age 5-6)
  • Children in Year 2, (ages 6-7)
  • Children in Year 3, (ages 7-8)
  • Children in Year 4 (ages 8-9)
  • Children in Year 5, (ages 9-10)
  • Children in Year 6 (ages 10-11)
  • Children in Year 7 (ages 11-12)

Note: If there is a child who is working at a lower or higher level, an appropriate parcel despite their school year group can be chosen.

The parcel packaging will be robust to contain and transport the contents by the selected postal service be child friendly and it should not distinguish the cohort it's intended for. The packaging must however have distinguished identification (what this is will be decided between the Provider and the Council) to allow teachers and carers to identify the package. The Virtual School will provide the current posting list each month to the provider upon request.

CPV: Educational games · Primary education services · Secondary education services

The lotProcurement structure

single lot · value published
Lot #1AwardedRenewal 2 yrsSMEVCSEPublished value£475,000
Contract period: 19 Jan 2026 – 18 Jan 2028 (2 yrs) · up to 18 Jan 2032 with extensionsValue: £475,000 exc. VAT · £570,000 inc. VAT
Extensions: The term may be extended by (2 x 2 year extension periods) on the same terms for such periods in accordance with the contract taking the contract to a maximum term of 18th January 2032. These extension periods can be used at the councils discretion.

What it takes to win
i

How this buyer will score bids.

The evaluation criteria and weights exactly as published on the notice, grouped by family (price, quality, social value and so on).

Evaluation split and conditions of participation as published; the tender pack may add more
How bids were scored
Quality: 20%Price: 80%
Published sub-criteria (4)
  • Pack Selection and Contents: 7.5%
  • Pack Contents and reasoning: 7.5%
  • Postal Methods: 5%
  • Price: 80%
Published award criteria (4)
  • Price
  • Pack Selection and Contents
  • Pack Contents and reasoning
  • Postal Methods
What this means for your bid
  • Price carries 80 of 100 points: a 10% discount moves about 8 points. This one is won on the number: sharpen the price before polishing the prose.

Price arithmetic assumes straight proportional scoring; the tender pack may use another formula.

Procedure terms & legal framework

From the official record
Procedure method
Open procedure
Legal basis
UKPGA · 2023/54 Procurement Act 2023
Procurement category
Goods
Notice status
Awarded
Procurement threshold
Above threshold (FTS publication)
Regulatory regime
Standard
Commercial structure
Stand-alone contract (no framework)
Competition type
Competitive procedure
GPA / WTO covered
Yes (GPA)
Recurring procurement
Unspecified in notice
First published
11 Nov 2025, 15:18 GMT
Last source update
17 Feb 2026, 13:25 GMT
Award evaluation window
Submission end – 9 Jan 2026
Authority reference
IA3702
FTS notice number
2025/S 000-072882
Latest notice
Contract details notice (UK7)
Classification (CPV)
Educational gamesPrimary education servicesSecondary education services
Delivery area
UKNorth East (UKC)North West (UKD)Yorkshire & Humber (UKE)East Midlands (UKF)West Midlands (UKG)East of England (UKH)London (UKI)
+4 moreSouth East (UKJ)South West (UKK)Wales (UKL)Scotland (UKM)
Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-05dee3 Find a Tender

How it was run

Official notice
Run through: ProContract (Due North) · Who buys & how to bid on ProContract
Supplier login requiredElectronic submission allowedLanguage: EN
Access & registration note: Free · short registration with manual review; public opportunity list
Submission deadline
11 Dec 2025, 12:00 GMT
Clarification deadline
4 Dec 2025, 23:59 GMT
Submission channel
Official e-sourcing portal
Electronic submission
Allowed
Accepted languages
en
Detailed submission instructions & authority contactsFrom official release

The procurement documents are available for unrestricted and full direct access, free of charge, at

supplierlive.proactisp2p.com/Account/Login ↗

Additional information can be obtained from the above-mentioned address

Tenders or requests to participate must be submitted electronically via

supplierlive.proactisp2p.com/Account/Login ↗

Timeline

11 Nov 2025 → 17 Feb 2026 · 8 dates
  1. Tender notice published340 days ago
    11 Nov 2025, 15:18 GMT
  2. Clarification questions by316 days ago
    4 Dec 2025, 23:59 GMT
  3. Submission deadline310 days ago
    11 Dec 2025, 12:00 GMT
  4. Award decision expected by280 days ago
    9 Jan 2026, 23:59 GMT
  5. Contract starts271 days ago
    19 Jan 2026
  6. Assessment summaries sent270 days ago
    20 Jan 2026
  7. Standstill ends260 days ago
    29 Jan 2026, 23:59 GMT
  8. Latest notice published242 days ago
    17 Feb 2026, 13:25 GMT

Notice history

5 events · 3 releases on Find a Tender · since 11 Nov 2025
  1. Tender notice published
    11 Nov 2025, 15:18 GMT
    UK4
  2. Contract award notice published
    20 Jan 2026, 17:27 GMT
    UK6
  3. Status changed to complete
    20 Jan 2026, 17:27 GMT
  4. Contract signature expected
    30 Jan 2026, 23:59 GMT
    scheduled
  5. Contract details notice published
    17 Feb 2026, 13:25 GMT
    UK7

Commercial outcome & contract awards

Published awards, contracts and bid statistics, not a forecast
Awards 1
Awarded value £475,0001 award exc. VAT
Bids received 33 from SMEs
Contracts signed 1latest 2 Feb 2026
Awarded toValueDateStatus
BOOKTRUSTSME30 Jan 2026 – 29 Jan 2028 · up to 1 Feb 2032Extensions: The term may be extended by (2 x 2 year extension periods) on the same terms for such periods in accordance with the contract taking the contract to a maximum term of 29th January 2032. These extension periods can be used at the councils discretion.£475,00020 Jan 2026Awarded

Contracts

  • Educational Book Parcels for Children in Care · BOOKTRUSTSME

    Signed
    2 Feb 2026
    Value
    £475,000
    Period
    2 Feb 2026 – 1 Feb 2028 · up to 1 Feb 2032 with extensions
    Status
    active
    Extensions
    The term may be extended by (2 x 2 year extension periods) on the same terms for such periods in accordance with the contract taking the contract to a maximum term of 1st February 2032. These extension periods can be used at the councils discretion.

    No agreed KPIs: Some KPIs are published in the service specification but do not need to be published as this procurement is under £5 million including VAT.

Bid statistics published by the authority

BidsSMEVCSEValid bid range
3final-stage tenders · 4 at stage one30—

Contracting authority & participating public bodies

Staffordshire County Council

Contracting authorityPublic authority - sub-central government GB-PPON: PZDG-2995-QQMD 1 Staffordshire Place, Tipping Street,, Stafford, West Midlands, ST16 2LPContact email

Bidders & participating suppliers

1 commercial party on the notice
  • BOOKTRUSTAwarded supplierGB-COH: 00210012GB-PPON: PXPY-1688-ZXBH 1 Aire Street, Leeds, Yorkshire & Humber, LS1 4PRContact email

Official documents & specifications (3)

Official links; attachments are not copied

Notices published for this procedure

  • Contract details notice contractContract details noticeUK7Contract details notice on Find a Tender
  • Contract award notice awardContract award noticeUK6Contract award notice on Find a Tender
  • Tender notice tenderTender noticeUK4Tender notice on Find a Tender